PLANS to force motorists to pay for on-street parking across Runnymede are officially ‘dead in the water’.

Business leaders had been worried that proposals laid out by Surrey County Council could have sounded a death knell for smaller traders with fears the charges would turn shoppers away.

But the scheme, which would have seen numerous pay and display machines installed in Virginia Water, Egham, Chertsey and Addlestone, was emphatically rejected by councillors this week.

Meher Oliaji, vice chairman of Egham Chamber of Commerce, said the charges would have left some businesses facing ruin.

She said: “The people of Virginia Water and the businesses of Virginia Water were completely up in arms about the plans and Egham Chamber of Commerce completely sympathised with them.

“We firmly believe that the viability of small businesses depends on people being able to pop in. If people had to get a ticket every time they went into Egham, for example, they would go to another town.

“It would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for some businesses.

“From our point of view, any imposition of charges that would affect traders during the worst economic recession of our time would have been a very bad idea.”

Most of the on-street parking in Runnymede is restricted to a 30-minute free period.

If the plans had been implemented the free period would have been retained but motorists would have had to pay to park for longer. Installing pay and display ticket machines to enforce the new rules would have cost around £105,000, but would have generated around £117,000 a year in income.

Surrey County Council believed the plans would have decreased congestion and CO2 emissions in town centres.

Councillor Paul Tuley, who voted against the plans at the Surrey County Council local committee meeting on Monday, said: “It’s dead in the water.

“There are no on street parking charges coming for the people of Runnymede.

“The timing of the plans is completely wrong and the business plan was weak.”

He added: “We all know the retail sector is struggling. When the time is right it may make sense to look at it again, but for now it is completely and utterly scrapped. Anything we can do to help the hard hit retail sector is something we should do and I hope they can get some benefit out of it.”

Cllr Geoffrey Woodger echoed those sentiments, saying: “The plans could have easily brought down some of the traders that are just managing to hang on during the recession.

“Some are having a very torrid time at the moment and that was one of the considerations we took into account.”

Runnymede councillors had decided to take a stand against the county’s plans at a meeting on May 30.